Where do you buy your manga?

N

Neon-Noir

Dandy Guy, in Space
So where does everyone buy from? I use the Amazon market place, which works out at about £6 a book with postage, but it depends on the specific title. Does everyone buy over the net, or do you have a decent bookshop near where you live? Occasionally, when I’m in London I find three for two deals and such, but there's really nothing in my hometown of High Wycombe apart from a revolving stand with miscellaneous Tokyopop titles.

There isn't a secret site where it's super-cheap is there?
 
Play.com is usually the first place I look since delivery is free, but if they don't stock the title I want I'll wait until I have the money for a big order and head over to United Publications (that way postage is a bit more cost effective). I've pretty much stopped using Amazon; I refuse to pay £2.75 postage for a single book, and I've had some bad experiences with their free super saver delivery (specifically waiting three weeks and then finding out it's been sent back because the courier couldn't find my house).

I do keep an eye out when I go shopping, though- mainly for Gollancz titles as they're only £4.99 per book.
 
There's a Books Etc. in Uxbridge that usually has a very good stock (for this country anyway) and they've been very good in ordering things in I couldn't find.

Amazon.co.uk is only really useful if you're buying in bulk. Play.com annoys me because they don't have the volume numbers on the list which makes it a pain to trawl through every title that says "Gravitation" until you find the copy you want, and you still have to judge by the front covers!

But, to be perfectly honest, last year I bought a large wad of the manga I now own at Expo. 2 for £10 at the Tokyopop stand! How can anybody not take advantage of that?!
 
Melainy said:
Play.com annoys me because they don't have the volume numbers on the list which makes it a pain to trawl through every title that says "Gravitation" until you find the copy you want, and you still have to judge by the front covers!
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I've taken to looking up the ISBN on Anime-On-Line and then using that to search/check on play.com- it's a bit more work but since the time they sent out Fushigi Yugi volume 2 when I thought I was ordering volume 1, I'm not taking any chances!
 
I used to buy at Ottakars, but I have recently discovered the wonders of... online shopping! :D My friends buy from Play.com and Amazon, but the one thing about the Play.com manga i've seen is that it doesn't list the volumes... other than that though I can't complain. :)
 
get most of the manga i buy from ebay......

i know some ppl hate ebay but you can get some good stuff from it

i get lots of my artboxs from ebay.
 
There's actually a good comics shop near me, and if he can't get hold of a particular work (Berserk and FMA are notorious for this) then it's either Borders or Amazon.
 
i used to buy all my manga online..but now Waterstones in Stirling sells Manga, but only from Tokyopop..so i get some there and the rest still of the internet
 
I find myself purchasing most of my Manga at a store called Forbidden planet, which is the only store within five hundred miles of my house that stocks anything remotely like a mediocre to good selection. I have the same quarrel with Play.com about their inherrent lack of numbering volumes. Also I find that most of the mangas I have ordered online do not come with protective slips (as they do in forbidden planet) and as such I have found the the collector's value deteriorates vasly due to the relative impossibility to keep them in mint condition.

Such is the will of lerion.
 
I get all my manga from two shops in Norwich, Kulture Shock and Abstract Sprocket, sometimes I get it from Ottakers too or Waterstones. But Abstract Sprocket is the best as it is CRAMMED with the stuff, Neko and myself sit on the floor staring at it for AGES and it takes a while to pick it all out :p Although I do love Abstract Sprocket for the merchandise and the very camp guy thats always at the till xD
 
Lerion said:
I have the same quarrel with Play.com about their inherrent lack of numbering volumes.
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Having to check the ISBN sure isa bummer, which is a shame since their prices are really quite good.

I also have fond memories of Kulture Shock and Abstract Sprocket eating big chunks of my loan in my student days (the fact that they are on the same street as Cookes Music didn't help). Have you checked out Magdeleine Street in the Anglia Square area? They might have a bookshop or two...there is branch of The Works near Starbucks in the city centre, or there used to be at least.
 
Since our trip to London I've been using the 3 for 2 on all manga sale that Blackwell's in London are having - the only probloem is that I only get up to London about once a month, and although their selection is extensive - it will often have odd numbers in a series, like they'll have volumes 2-4 of Excel Saga and no voume 1. But it's always nice to be able to physically go and buy the book instead of waiting for it to come through the post - instant gratification.
 
Most of the time I buy my Manga from Nostaglia and comics, since they give students 10% discount and give deals such as 3 mangas for £15. Sometimes I get my Mangas from Forbidden Planet, Borders or Amazon when I can't find the Manga that I'm looking for at Nostaglia and comics.
 
I buy most of my manga from either Play.com or United Publications. Play is usually cheaper but the range is more limited and, as has been mentioned, it can be difficult to identify the particular volume. Search for DNAngel on Play is frustrating as sometimes it comes under "dnangel" and other times under "d n angel".

I used to, and sometimes still do, get other manga, not available from Play, from Anime-On-Line until I discovered, from a similar thread on a website forum, United Publications which can work out cheaper and has titles that even Anime-On-Line doesn't stock.

So far I've yet to have to resort buying anything to Amazon.

I usually get the Gollanz titles (Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragon Ball etc) from Ottakars or Waterstones when I'm in town, and occasionally other volumes that are cost or time effective.
 
Once every few months I go into London and put a big dent in my credit card at Blackwells in London and their 3 for 2 offer on manga. The only thing saving me from spending more there is the range is limited to older titles compared to Orbital Comics and Forbidden Planet. I use Amazon occasionally but its just not as much fun even if it is cheaper.
 
it only has a handful high-street manga sellers in the UK, esp. in the South West England. the only shop i know is Comics and Ottakar's. most of my manga bought from Anime-On-Line, amazon and ebay.
 
Worlds Apart or (more often) Forbidden Planet in Liverpool. It doesn't really help that I pass Forbidden Planet twice a day on the way to uni and back, so I end up with a random volume of whatever instead of lunch. :?

I bought volume 1 of Maison Ikkoku from a nice little bookshop in Formby which I've forgotten the name of, even though I go there every week...I've been too busy trying to catch up with my unread Yu-Gi-Oh to read it though. I'll be there again tomorrow, so I might get something new if they've got any more stuff in.

I look at Ottakars' selection every week, but I've only bought one or two from there, right when they started getting Tokyopop stuff in. Seems like nowadays they're all either: a) stuff I've got...b) badly damaged...or c) a series I'm interested in, but they've only got like, volumes 3 and 8.
 
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